The net effect: Design, the rhizome, and complex philosophy

Complex networks keep appearing in design research. A consideration of networks brings us into contact with Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the rhizome. On the one hand, their characterisation of the rhizome seems to be an extension and vindication of the application of the network. On the other hand, it diminishes the authority of the network as providing a general account of social conditions, spatial configuration, and design processes. In this paper we examine critically how both the network and the rhizome feature in major design legacies.